PAXON – Facing state power Lynn Haven Mosley, Paxon head coach George Wahl likely knew his team had to play a perfect game to spring the upset.
They didn’t.
Mosley, playing in the Elite 8 for the sixth consecutive year, abruptly halted the Eagles quest to advance to the state finals for the first time in a decade in a 14-3 win in the Class 6A regional final Wednesday night.
“We had a great year. We played one heck of a team; it was just their night,” Paxon head coach George Wahl stated.
Mosley arrived to the Eagle’s Nest accompanied by an entourage of fans adorned in Orange and Green. The small thirteen manned Paxon team expectantly waited for their opponent.
The Eagles would take the outfield while the Dolphins headed to bat. Eagles pitcher LeBarron Johnson would go on to strike out Jaren Rudd and Mason Smith.
With two outs in the inning, Drew Yeager produced a double but Blake Vineyard would strike out ending the top of the first scoreless.
Cole Turner lead off the bottom of the first for Paxon with a nice hit sliding into first base. While Ryan Dowling was up to bat, Turner would be thrown out to at second after trying to steal second resulting in the Eagles first out.
Ryan Petty ruled the mound for Mosley taking out Ryan Dowling and Deuce Pitts via strikeout ending the first inning scoreless.
The second inning would prove to be promising for the Dolphins as Trent Justice scored a run to give Mosley an early 1-0 lead.
Aggressive base running from Jackson Durant and Johnson allowed the Eagles to score two runs to end the second with a 2-1 lead.
A run by Rudd allowed the Dolphins to tie it up at 2 all after three innings.
Two unfortunate errors by Paxon would benefit the Dolphins substantially in the fourth. Shane Skibba catapulted the action which resulted in a series of events allowing the Dolphins to dominate the fourth inning.
Skibba and Clete Hartzog would contribute to the teams eight runs while two of the runs were via home runs by Justice and Skibba.
Albren Pringle scored the Eagles only run in the fourth as the fourth inning finally ended with Mosley leading Paxon 10-3 after four.
Starting off with Hartzog, a confident Mosley and experienced Dolphins team tacked on 4 runs in the fifth allowing the Dolphins to advance to the Class 6A state semi-finals in Fort Myers.
Despite the tough schedule, Paxon (20-6) produced a strong season which would allow them to become the last men standing in the county and able to meet several goals for the year:
- Win 20 games
- Become District Champions
- Make it to Regionals
Coach Wahl will lose 5 seniors but there is a strong junior presence and the ultimate goal of heading to the Final Four remains a strong possibility next season.
